Testing The Waters
by offender
Summary: After the victory over the Red Death the dragons have formed peace with the Vikings of Berk however this is not the case throughout the rest of the world. In parts of the world Vikings and Dragons still wage war to this day. Hero's are found in the most unlikely of places. -Will follow original HTTYD cast and OC's -


Hello. This is my main How To Train Your Dragon story. This story will follow a village of my own creation as well as the main cast of HTTYD. This story is set just after HTTYD 1 as I felt this presented the best period to place my story. There will be some strong language and suggestive themes. Welcome to chapter one. I appreciate all comments and reviews. Enjoy.

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><p>Slowly the sun crept over the horizon spreading the warming glow across a village nestled in the valley of the surrounding hills. Several of the villagers who had risen early to attend to their duties turned and looked towards the mountains to watch the slow ascent of the sun and the impressive spectacle it created when the light hit the several small rivers and waterfalls that dotted the sides of the mountains. One such villages was a boy of eighteen who was laid on his back, at the point of the A frame of the roof, hands behind his head simply observing the sunrise. The young male only did this so often and was usually lost in thought when he did. Dropping his left leg gently to the side, he busied himself gently swinging it back and forth, enjoying the soft rippling noise the cloth trousers made in the gentle breeze. Sighing softly, the boy squirmed to get comfortable again still without taking his gaze off the mountains, which were currently projecting some pretty 'god rays' across the valley, intensified by the thin morning mist that still hung in the air.<p>

The few villagers that were awake and milling around at this hour paid him no attention, used to his uncommon ritual. After an unknown length of time had passed and the sun crept into the boys eyes forcing him to push himself to a sitting position whilst shielding his eyes. After a second he swung his legs around and slowly slid from the roof and onto the ground with a small grunt and kicking up small cloud of dust. At that point there was a metallic creaking sound behind him. Turning around the boy was greeted by his father

"Morning, son. You been on the roof again." It was more of a statement than a question and he knew it. His father smiled and clapped him on the arm "You're certainly a strange one lad. Have a good, safe hunt." His father smile and handed him bow, quiver and pack which had been leaning at the side of the door. With a swift thanks to his father the boy slung his quiver across his back and secured it on a three point which also housed the pack, quickly followed by the bow which he just shouldered in case needed to be ready to fire. While the boy headed for the forest he could his farther greeting the roaming villagers as he headed to the training grounds. His father was a Viking Master at Arms and being so meant that he was responsible for training the other Vikings who were undertaking dragon training in how to handle and care for their weapons in the proper manner. This meant that his father was usually one of the early risers in the village and worked late.

The boys mind drifted to his mother who was also, usually, rising early too as she was a healer within the village and was the assistant to the head healer. This morning was different, his mother hadn't arrived home last night, no doubt she was stuck treating the overzealous idiot who'd charged after a Zippleback without any backup. Usually the Zippleback would pose a slight challenge to a training and seasoned Viking but this was a different matter. The Viking in question had decided it would be a good idea to chase down and defeat the beast to impress a girl. The boy snorted and shook his head as he mulled the story over in his mind. What kind of idiot would do something so stupid? Was this girl of his so special to him that he went and, more or less, got killed to try and impress her? He couldn't work it out so he decided to cast the thought off and watch where he was walking. He was deep within the forest now and the sun was shooting through the canopy in places where it could. The boy took his bow in hand, pulled his hood over his head, the cloth mask across his face to leave just his eyes showing. It was yet another strange ritual he had. Every time he hunted he had to have his hood and mask as it seemed to make it easier to focus and block out all other distractions.

Drawing an arrow from his quiver he nocked an arrow and crouched low, listening intently, and only turning his head slightly to focus on sounds that caught his hearing. Scanning the ground with his eyes he noticed a small branch, snapped in the middle with some slight depressions around it. Something had passed through here recently. Judging by the size of the print the animal can't have been much larger than a young deer. Looking farther ahead he could see a gap between two bushes which seemed to have been force apart. The boy advanced slowly, gently testing the ground with his toes before moving his full weight on it. The last thing he needed was to ruin what could be a golden opportunity. When he reached the bush he could see some branches had been nibbled by the creature and could see the distinct prints in the earth, but he still could not work out why it had went _through_ the bush instead of around it. Maybe it had been spooked?

The boy stood slowly and took a quick look at his surroundings. It all seemed normal to him. He shrugged and decided that he might make more ground on his prey by using the branches of the canopy. With a few careful jumps up some conveniently placed branches he was in the canopy. After regaining his bearings again and picking up the trail he moved off at a swift pace, trusting in his extra concealment in the canopy to keep him hidden.

After a while of running and jumping in a semi squatted position, to reduce noise and visibility, he began to wheeze and pant but the trail was still going. Could it possibly be an old trail that he was following? He'd only had to track this far a couple of times before and at the end there was either no more trail to follow or simply a carcass. The boy drew up and rested against a trunk, pulling down his mask and whipping out his canteen and taking a swift mouthful savouring the feeling the still slightly cool liquid had as it worked down his throat. Stashing the canteen back away in his belt he kept his mouth open and breathed through it, as it was quieter than doing so through his nose. Noise discipline was everything when hunting as was patience. The boy replaced his face mask and sat on his haunches, his bow across his knees.

"Where are you?" he whispered almost inaudible scanning the forest.

_Snap._

There it was. Exactly what he was waiting for. The boy took up the slack on the bowstring, eyes scanning the immediate area from where the noise bad came. With his knees bent and senses on edge, he crept through the canopy, hopefully taking his prey unaware. As he approached a rather large Willow he extended his arm holding the bow to judge how far from the tree he needed to be and in one swift motion he extended to his full height and leant to his right to see around the trunk. With his heart hammering in his ears, the adrenaline rampaging through his veins he pulled the bowstring tight in anticipation. Edging more and more around the trunk his bow groaned quietly in complaint. Nothing could distract him now, not even if a Nightmare were to set fire to the branch beneath him. A small bead of sweat ran down his forehead, trickling down the side of his face, ticking it gently as it passed.

_In and out. Slowly. Don't jerk the bow. In and out._

When his prey came into sight he almost forgot his mantra through the thrill of the hunt. The boy mentally steeled himself and focused again.

_One through the heart. Quick, painless, humane._

The boy took a deeper breath in, pulling a little more on the bowstring, and slowly released the breath, stopping half way. The boy watched as the deeds head came up from grazing on the patch of grass it had found as if suddenly sensing it death coming for it.

"Quick, clean, painless…" the boy whispered as he released the bowstring with a dull _thrum_ followed seconds later by a much louder thump and panicked bleating of the deer. Wasting no time, the boy jumped from the tree and not the small clearing, rolling as he hit the floor, he drew he knife and pushed it swiftly into the deers heart. He'd missed, not by much but he still missed his mark. He didn't want to distress the creature. He hated killing, but recognised that he had to kill to survive. Whether it was a deer, a rabbit, chicken or even a dragon killing was a part of Viking life, and he'd grew used to it a long time ago. It didn't mean that he enjoy it by any means, no. The only thing he could do is make sure that the death was as quick and clean as possible.

Sheathing his knife, the boy grabbed a small coil of rope next to the sheath and set about tying the legs together for easier transport. Ten minutes later he was finished so he slung his bow across his body, rather than just shouldering it, now that he had to drag this deceptive deer. He really needed to work on hid guessing. This deer weight _a lot_ more than he predicted. Rather than carrying it, he was going to have to make a hasty sledge and drag it along.

"Yep, just nothing can go right for one day can it…"

The sun hung low in the sky when he made it to the edge of the forest with his kill. He'd been gone much longer than intended.

"Evian? There you sore my son." The boy lifted his head while stopping in his tracks, utterly exhausted for having to drag the deer so far. His eyed met his mothers. Evians light cerulean eyes shining as her deep brown eyes bore into his own before looking behind him which resulted her widening eyes. "An impressive hunt" she remarked, closing the distance between them. She took his face in her hands and kissed his forehead "come on son, I'll help you get it the rest of the way. You look fit to drop." She had looked him over head to toe and noticed his slumped shoulders, the heavy head and unstable legs. Evian was trying to think of some smart remark but all he could manage was a weak thanks. His mother smiled and took command of the sledge, pulling it behind her all the while smiling dotingly at her son.

Evian was truly exhausted. After leaving his mother to take the deer to those in charge of skinning and butchering the animal, he had headed to the nearest warm spring which was, thankfully, only around fifteen minutes away. After removing his bow, quiver, pack, hunting cloak, tunic, trousers and boots he slipped into the water releasing a gasp as the warm water immediately starting soothing his cramping leg muscles. Evian was so ready to fall asleep at that moment he had to pinch himself and remind himself why he was there. After scrubbing himself clean of the dirt, grime and blood he began to relax again, letting his whole body slump with a long sigh causing his head to lol back and eyelids fall closed. Now this was true peacefulness. A small smile spread across his lips and the warmth wormed further through his body.

Evian sat stewing in the warm spring for what seemed hours but he couldn't care less. All he knew that it was now dark and the stars were blazing in the sky, grudgingly he dragged himself from the spring, drying himself off with a extra absorbent hide that he'd had the forethought to bring. Dressing in a simple white tunic, grey trousers and fur boots, he collected the rest of his gear and headed towards his house

Pushing the door open he was greeted by his father who congratulated him on a successful hunt and offered a place by the fire. Evian politely declined on the grounds he was too tired and was heading straight to bed. His mother however, didn't want to hear it and eventually forced the compromise of taking a hearty stew to his room with a hefty lump of break. Evian bade them both goodnight and trudged his way up the stairs.

Evian stowed his gear away carefully, removing the bowstring from the bow and laying the arrows horizontally while his soiled clothing was thrown into a wicker basket just outside his door. After polishing off his meal in record time Evian collapsed onto his bed and stared up at the moon through the large window in his room. After letting his meal settle, Evian moved to the small design desk at the foot of his bed looking for a particular set of sketches. Pushing aside designs for arrow fletchings, arrow heads, bows, knives, swords and other random items he eventually found the large, red, leather bound book. Evian smiled softly as his hand brushed across the embossed description. _Your imagination is your true limit._ His mother had given him his for his fifteenth birthday after discovering his artistic talent.

Smiling wistfully, he carefully unwound the leather cord that kept the book closed and gently opened it enjoying the sound that the old parchment made as it flexed. Evians smile stretched further when he looked over his sketches of the same subject; _dragons._

Evian had always been fascinated with the beasts, constantly pondering how free they must feel being able to come and go as they wish, gliding gently above the ocean. Just the idea of flight made him wish he could sprout a pair of wings and join them. Evian flicked to a new page and set about unleashing his imagination.


End file.
